I Transmigrated and Became a CEO in the Ming Dynasty

My name is Zhu Hao. I was a programmer at a major tech company. After working myself to death, I woke up in the body of Zhu Houzhao, the least reliable emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The historical Zhu Houzhao: sixteen years of debauchery, dead at thirty-one, posthumously titled Emperor Wuzong.

Me, after learning how this story goes: Let's lie flat. Let's slack off. A day alive is a good day.

Then I discovered that being emperor is the most exhausting job in the world.

Up before dawn for court, no days off all year, memorials piled up like mountains, ministers arguing every day, and people in the north plotting to attack me.

This isn't being an emperor. It's a trial by fire.

So I decided to save myself.

Emperor? I'm done.

Starting today, I'm the CEO of Ming Group.

The Grand Secretariat is reorganized into a management team. Anyone who fails their year-end review gets replaced.

All memorials must follow a set format. Anything without an executive summary gets sent back for a rewrite.

I'll open border markets, issue government bonds, build a navy, and invite those merchants from the little country called "Folangji" in for tea.

The ministers completely lose it.

Yang Tinghe says, "Your Majesty, the laws of our ancestors must not be changed."

I say, "Grand Secretary Yang, have you met your KPIs this quarter?"

Later on...

The young prince of the grasslands sends an envoy to ask, "Could you open the border markets a little wider? Our tribes can't sell all their wool."

The salt merchants of Jiangnan weep as they submit a memorial: "Your Majesty, could you lower the interest on government bonds? We commoners really can't bear it."

The Portuguese envoy who has traveled from afar presents a diplomatic letter with three crookedly written characters: "Please cooperate."

I sit in the Qianqing Palace, look over Ming Group's quarterly report, and take a satisfied sip of tea.

Somehow, I turned the Ming Dynasty into the largest multinational corporation on Earth at the time.